


Cursed

by flashforeward



Category: Kingsman (Movies), The Mummy (1999)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Magic, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, M/M, Mummies, Reverse Big Bang Challenge, Undead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 13:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19296391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashforeward/pseuds/flashforeward
Summary: Egypt 1925. Hired to infiltrate a tomb and liberate its expensive contents, best friends and partners Eggsy and Roxy head into the desert to earn their pay day. It’s not glamorous work, but at least it pays. This time, however, at this grave, they find people waiting for them. Waiting to stop them, protecting the grave not for its value but for the safety of the world. This grave, they say, is cursed. Eggsy and Roxy don’t believe in curses, though, so they find a way to get into the tomb, looking for the most valuable items they can find. In the process, they trigger the curse and have to team up with the people they were trying to avoid to stop it before it spreads.Art by thenerdyindividual





	Cursed

 

It shouldn’t be too hard, Eggsy reasons. It’s one of those tombs lost to time, the kind of place no one remembers, so well hidden no other grave robbers - Eggsy has no illusions about what he does for a living - have found it before. Rediscovered only after years of hard work, scouring maps and documents in search of hints and clues. So in the grand scheme of tomb robbing, this one should be relatively easy - little to no competition, well-preserved artefacts, and a big pay day once they return.

 

He just has to convince Roxy to take on one last job.

 

They’ve worked together for years now and Eggsy had agreed after their last job that retiring from the business was in their best interests, especially if they wanted to keep living. Eggsy wouldn’t mind keeping on, but he won’t work without Roxy and he won’t begrudge her wanting to move on to more legitimate pursuits. Not after that last job. Not after Valentine.

 

But this job. This job sounds good. Maybe _too_ good, but Eggsy won’t look a gift horse in the mouth and this job promises the kind of money they can really retire on, not just move to working in a legitimate business. It’ll be enough money that they can _live_.

 

So Eggsy had said yes, even though he hadn’t talked to Roxy yet. But he thinks Roxy’ll be alright with it, once he goes over all his points about why it’s a good idea. He hopes. She’ll be mad, that he does know, but he thinks he can convince her. _Has_ to convince her, because he definitely can’t back out of this now he’s agreed to it and he refuses to work without her. She’s the best partner a guy could want, whatever their business dealings. And she knows it, too.

 

When he gets back to their rooms, he has to pause at the door before going in. He doesn’t want Roxy to know the second he steps in that he’s up to something, has to make sure his face doesn’t give anything away but also that it doesn’t give _nothing_ away because Roxy knows all his tells. So he pulls in a breath, lets it out for a slow count of five, then steps through the door and hopes he doesn’t look like he’s hiding something.

 

Roxy is lounging on the camp bed - his bed - with a book propped open in her lap. She glances up at him, back down to the book, then looks up at him again and Eggsy sighs.

 

He probably should have known he couldn’t fool Roxy.

 

“What is it?” she asks, sitting up straighter and setting the book aside.

 

Eggsy sits down in the chair by the window and tries to meet her gaze. “It’s a job, a good one, and I think we should take it.”

 

Roxy’s expression darkens, but she doesn’t say anything, sits in silence and waits for Eggsy to continue.

 

“It’s a lost tomb, way out in the desert. Some place called Hamunaptra?” he shrugs. “Point is, no one’s heard of it, no one knows where it is, but these blokes found it and they want whatever treasure’s there and they think we can get it for them. Pay is good, risk is low, and…,” he trails off, can’t meet her gaze.

 

She knows.

 

“You already said yes,” Roxy finishes for him, resigned. “Eggsy, you couldn’t even have asked me first?”

 

“I’m sorry, Lance,” Eggsy says, and he is. “I just. It sounded really good and I just. Said yes without thinking.”

 

Roxy sighs. “Last time you said yes without thinking we almost died.”

 

Eggsy flinches at the reminder, the guilt still sharp. “I know,” he says. “But that’s not going to happen this time, Lance. I _promise_.”

 

**

 

It is a combination of self-imposed exile and guilt that keeps them there, lurking in the dunes surrounding Hamunaptra. They first came with the French Foreign Legion, leaving bloodshed in their wake and disturbing a destructive force that had slept for millennia. When their battalion moved on, off to the next battle for land that wasn’t theirs, Merlin and Harry stayed behind, atoning for their own and their battalion’s sins by helping to protect Hamunaptra from anyone who might disturb the evil buried there.

 

It has been a long and lonely few years.

 

**

 

The sun beats hot onto the sand and Eggsy resists the urge to drink more. He has to conserve water. A little ways ahead, Roxy sways before him, her camel taking sure and steady steps deeper into the desert.

 

It’s beautiful out here, this stretch of gold that shines in the sun. Deadly, but beautiful. Eggsy doesn’t think he’ll leave Egypt, even after he and Roxy call this profession quits. Not unless Roxy does, because he and Roxy’ll always be a team. But he hopes she stays, because he really does love it here.

 

“Check the map again?” Roxy’s voice startles him. She’s slowed down so their camels are side by side and when he glances at her she raises an eyebrow and nods to the papyrus in his hand. She’s holding her compass and keeps glancing between it and the map as Eggsy holds it up, studying the rough-drawn lines compared to the stretch of sand that extends before them.

 

“What’s the inscription say again?” Eggsy asks, pointing to the hieroglyphics in the corner. He’s never been good at deciphering written languages, but he learns to speak them with relative ease. It’s one of the ways that he and Roxy balance each other out.

 

“When the setting sun and the rising moon strike the sand, Hamunaptra’s secrets will be revealed,” Roxy recites. She shakes her head, glaring down at the compass. “I really think we ought to be there by now.”

 

Eggsy folds the map back up and slips it into his pocket, eyeing Roxy carefully. If she’s right - and she probably is - it means this job is a bust and Eggsy never should have agreed to it.

 

Eggsy looks ahead again and pulls the camel up short. “Lance,” he says, voice quiet. He clears his throat and tries again. “Lance.”

 

“I’m trying to figure out if we turned wrong somewhere,” Roxy says, still moving forward, still studying her compass like it holds the secrets of the universe.

 

“Lancelot, _look_ ,” Eggsy says. Roxy looks up and sees what Eggsy sees: the sun and the moon hanging in the still bright sky, flanking the ruins of a city that wasn’t there a moment before.

 

“Hamunaptra,” Roxy breathes, voice filled with awe.

 

“Hamunaptra,” Eggsy repeats, feeling vindicated.

 

They urge their camels on faster, practically racing towards the city. They’re almost there, about to cross the border, when a man appears before them. He’s dressed in loose clothing, his head and the lower portion of his face wrapped in cloth, but even as they pull up short Eggsy can tell the man’s not native.

 

“Turn back,” the man says, accent unmistakably English even on just those two words.

 

“We have business here,” Roxy says, easing forward. “Step aside.”

 

“No one has business here. Turn back.”

 

Roxy glances at Eggsy, who shrugs. She looks back at the man. “We don’t want any trouble. We just came to-”

 

“We know what you came for,” the man cuts her off, stepping forward, hand on the hilt of a khopesh Eggsy hadn’t noticed hanging at his waist. “Turn back.”

 

It’s not the sword that strikes Eggsy, it’s the _we_. He glances around, searching for the man’s fellows, but there’s nothing to see but the city and the expanse of desert that surrounds it. Eggsy looks back at the man, frowning. Making a show of it, he pulls out a pocket watch and studies it as though it still tells time, then slips it back into his pocket and meets the shining brown of the man’s gaze. “It’s late,” he says. “At least let us spend the night.”

 

The man hesitates. It’s clear he wants to say no, to urge them back into the desert. But the sun is almost set and while it’s dangerous traveling through the heat of the day the risk of bandits during the cool nights can be far deadlier. After a few moments, the man nods. “Fine,” he says. “But you are to stay in the ruined buildings. No digging. There is nothing here to find.”

 

He steps aside and Eggsy and Roxy ride past him into the city. The ruins cast strange shadows in the shifting light and Eggsy stays close to Roxy. She picks out the building with the most roof for them to set up camp in, not too far from the entrance to the city, but hidden in the midst of other half-buildings.

 

“What are we going to do if we can’t dig?” Eggsy asks, feeling an edge of guilt gnawing at him. It’s his fault they're here. This was supposed to be one last job, a big score to send them out with a bang, but things have already started to go wrong.

 

“We’ll figure something out,” Roxy says, getting a fire going. “It’s clear there’s something here to find, and it must be something good.”

 

Eggsy glances out through the partially demolished wall where a door once stood. “Do you think he wants it for himself?”

 

“Probably.”

 

Eggsy nods. He pulls a bottle from his pack and takes a swig, then passes it to Roxy. They probably shouldn’t drink, but it’s been a long day and a few sips won’t kill them. He digs out some jerky and he and Roxy lean against a wall, sipping scotch and gnawing on the salted meat while they wait for the night to end.

 

**

 

“They’re going to dig,” Harry says.

 

Merlin sighs. “I know.”

 

“They’re going to dig and we both know what they’re going to find and these past two years will have been for nothing.”

 

“I know.” Merlin doesn’t mean to snap, but he’s exhausted and frustrated and he _knows_ that Harry’s right, that he shouldn’t have let them into the city. But it was nightfall and he reasoned that they could keep an eye on two people, how hard could that be?

 

Harry lays a hand on Merlin’s shoulder and gives a light squeeze. “It’s all right,” he says. “Ardeth is already watching the burial sight and we’ll keep an eye on these two,” he nods at the building. “We won’t let him wake.”

 

 _Him_. The black priest, his crime so horrible he was mummified alive and cursed to one day walk the Earth again, the ten plagues descending in his wake. When Merlin first came to Hamunaptra three years ago, he had heard whisperings of the tale and dismissed them as superstition. But once in the city, fighting a battle for a cause he didn’t believe in, Merlin had _felt_ something, some evil watching over all the bloodshed, relishing it.

 

It was why he and Harry had stayed when Ardeth found them. Whatever that was, that evil that drank gleefully of the blood spilled upon the sand, it had to remain buried. Whatever the cost.

 

“We won’t,” he says finally, gaze fixed on the building where the two had set up camp for the night. They’re hidden, but they’re there. And Merlin and Harry settle in to keep watch.

 

**

 

It’s the sun that wakes Eggsy, bright and piercing. The ruined wall of their shelter faces east, so the rising sun shines straight onto them. Eggsy groans and rolls away, covering his eyes with his forearm. Apparently he drank a little too much last night, despite intending to do no such thing. Slowly, carefully, he sits up. Roxy isn’t there, but Eggsy isn’t worried. She’s probably just gone exploring. He takes a swig of water from his canteen, swishing it around before swallowing to wash the taste of stale scotch from his mouth.

 

He stands, stretching the kinks out of his back and shoulders, and steps squinting into the sun. He scans the street for Roxy, but doesn’t spot her. He hopes she hasn’t gone too far, he’s not up for a lot of walking right yet, especially not in this heat.

 

“You were supposed to leave.”

 

Eggsy isn’t sure where the man came from. The street - or what’s left of it - was empty and then it wasn’t, the man appearing almost from nowhere, no hint of movement save the drift of dust. He still has the wrap around his head, but the cloth that covered his mouth and nose hangs loose and Eggsy takes in his face. His skin is pale where the cloth covered it, protecting him from the sun. His jaw is sharp, chiseled. In another context, Eggsy might have tried to seduce him to get what he wanted, but there’s a time and a place and this is neither.

 

“We’ll go,” Eggsy says. It isn’t a lie, they _will_ go, leave this place and these men behind. But he doesn’t say when because he honestly isn’t sure himself. He wants to know what secrets they’re hiding, what’s buried in this city no one speaks of, but the intensity with which these men protect it also scares him.

 

He supposes that’s the point.

 

“You were supposed to have left,” the man says now, amending his previous statement. What he means is: you came, you slept, why are you still here?

 

Eggsy doesn’t actually have an answer, so he just shrugs. “We will,” he repeats. “Just have to get all sorted.” He shoots the man a cheeky grin, but it doesn’t seem to have any affect. That cold, even stare remains fixed on him. “Right. Lemme just find Lancelot.”

 

The man’s expression shifts then. It’s only for a moment and if Eggsy weren’t watching him closely he would’ve missed it, the slight widening of the eyes, the slackening of the jaw. Surprise.

 

But why?

 

Eggsy nods at the man and walks slowly and carefully past, waiting for him to reach out and bar the path. He doesn’t and Eggsy steps into a wider space, away from the crowd of half-broken buildings and into the sun. He supposes it’s odd to call a girl _Lancelot_ if you aren’t used to it, but nicknames aren’t a new thing and Arthurian Legend is a staple of English schooling, so what about calling Roxy _Lancelot_ took a man so composed off guard?

 

He shakes his head. If he remembers, he’ll run it by Roxy. If he finds her. He stands in the sun, looking around him. It’s all dust and shadow, empty and hollow and foreboding. A cloud passes over the sun and Eggsy shivers, glancing behind him as though expecting someone - or something - to be lurking there, sneaking up on him, waiting for his guard to drop.

 

He rushes forward, pushes on. “Rox?” he calls out. “Lance?”

 

She could have at least left a note.

 

**

 

“She’s Magi,” Merlin says, joining Harry on the outcropping that looks down over Hamunaptra. Harry hands him a canteen and Merlin takes a swig, then goes on. “The girl, he called her Lancelot.”

 

“Lots of people have odd names,” Harry says, raising an eyebrow.

 

Merlin glares at him. “You know what I mean,” he says. “You know what Ardeth said.”

 

Not all the Magi are native to the land. A group of colonizers, realizing the damage they had inflicted and that more would come if Hamunaptra were disturbed, began passing down the task of aiding in its protection. They passed the line along with names from legends, bestowing them on their children along with their Christian names so when they came the Magi would know they could be trusted.

 

That was why Ardeth had been open to allowing Merlin and Harry to stay, to help: Merlin had had another name once, he supposed, but Merlin was the only one he’d ever known. Harry had chosen his own name after Ardeth’s explanation: Galahad.

 

Harry takes the canteen back, capping it and sliding it into his pack. “The name by itself doesn’t mean anything.”

 

This is true enough.

 

There is a system in place to weed out imposters, and Merlin supposes that would work for people coincidentally named for legendary figures as well. He assumes it doesn’t come to that often, if at all. How many people who _happen_ to be named after Arthurian figures would _happen_ to come to Hamunaptra?

 

Apparently at least two.

 

Merlin blows out a breath. Harry bumps their shoulders together and nods down at the stretch of the city below them. They can see the boy, whatever _his_ name is, wandering the streets, obviously looking for the girl.

 

Just like them.

 

**

 

“Damn it, Roxy,” Eggsy mutters, kicking at the sand. He’s moved into the shade of a wall to rest for a few moments. He feels like he’s been walking for hours, though it can’t have been more than a few minutes, and wishes his watch actually worked.

 

If this score is as good as promised, he’ll have to take it in to get fixed. Finally.

 

“You’re not going to leave without her, are you?”

 

Eggsy whirls around, glaring at the man who once again snuck up on him. “Mate, you have _got_ to stop doing that.” He sighs. “And no. Rox is my partner, I’m not going to leave her behind.”

 

“Come on, then,” the man says, starting off into the city.

 

Eggsy hesitates. “How do I know you won’t kill me?”

 

“You don’t.”

 

Fair enough. It’s probably better to walk the other way, find Roxy on his own, but the man definitely knows the city better than Eggsy does and the sooner he finds Roxy the sooner they can...what? She won’t want to leave. Hell, he’s not sure if _he_ wants to leave. But this man will expect them to, once Roxy turns up.

 

Is it safer to go with him, to know where he is? Or would it be better to go it alone?

 

He sighs and jogs to catch up with the man, studying his profile as he falls into step beside him. “Why are you helping me?” he asks after a moment.

 

The man glances his way, eyebrow raised. “To get you both out of here as quickly as possible.”

 

Eggsy nods. He’d figured as much. “Why?” he asks. “What’s so bad about this place?”

 

The man stops and Eggsy pulls up short, staring at him as he closes his eyes and tilts his head back. “Can’t you feel it?” he asks. “The darkness?”

 

“I feel sweaty and burnt.”

 

The man lowers his head, opens his eyes, fixes Eggsy with a bemused look. “You’re a liar,” he says.

 

And though it’s true, his words make Eggsy shiver despite the heat.

 

He feels like the man looked into him and saw every secret Eggsy’s tried to hide his whole life.

 

And on top of that, the man’s right: Eggsy _can_ feel the darkness. He just doesn’t want to think about it.

 

**

 

“You’re Lancelot, then.”

 

She’s been expecting someone to find her, but hoped she’d have more time.

 

She has Eggsy’s map and a few tools and she thinks she’s found the place to dig, in the shadow of a half-buried statue of Anubis. She still doesn’t know what they’ll find, Eggsy’s client wasn’t forthcoming with the particulars, but since arriving in Hamunaptra, Roxy has been eager to get to work. Has felt drawn to whatever secrets are hidden here.

 

Slowly, she folds the map back up and slips it into her pack before turning to face the man, a different man than the one who had met them at the gate and warned them off. He peers at her through a pair of scratched spectacles, a patch covering one eye.

 

“What’s it to you?” she asks, grabbing a pick from her line of tools. She’ll talk to the bloke, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to _stop_.

 

“You shouldn’t be doing that.” He’s stepped a bit closer and Roxy shoots a glare at him, bringing him up short. Pointedly, she brings the pick down into the sand, digging out a trough in the shifting earth. “Lancelot-”

 

“It’s Roxy,” she cuts him off, turning to glare at him again. “You can call me Roxy. Only my friends call me Lancelot.” Friend. Just one. Just Eggsy. This bloke doesn’t need to know that, though. “What do you want? Besides to stop me doing my job?”

 

The man shrugs, shakes his head. “That’s it, honestly,” he says. He almost sounds apologetic, which makes Roxy bristle. “Nothing good will come of digging here.”

 

“Lots of good for my wallet, mate.” Roxy turns her back on him again and goes back to digging. She knows he’s probably going to come up behind her, try to stop her by force, but she also wants to be clear: she isn’t going to stop. He can postpone her work all he wants, but this has become more than just another job to her. There’s something here, something important, and she wants to find it.

 

“Please.” He’s right next to her now, his voice a whisper that the wind tears into pieces. “Some secrets should stay hidden.”

 

Roxy sets the pick head down in the sand, leaning on it as she turns again to meet the man’s gaze. “Tell me what it is, then,” she says. “If it’s so dangerous, tell me why.”

 

He opens his mouth to answer, but the sand beneath Roxy’s feet opens at the same moment, swallowing them and blotting out the sun.

 

**

 

Eggsy finds Roxy’s tools, but not Roxy.

 

“What the hell?” he whispers, kneeling and scooping up Roxy’s pack. He sees where the sand was disturbed, but there’s no other sign of Roxy.

 

Behind him, he can feel the man’s gaze. “If you’re going to stand there,” he says after a moment, “could you at least _help_? The sooner I find her, the sooner we can leave your precious city.”

 

The quiet stretches. Then. “It isn’t precious,” the man says. “It’s cursed.”

 

Of course it is.

 

Eggsy turns and glares at the man. “You didn’t think to lead with that?” he asks. “Vague warnings to turn back, yes. Actually straight up saying _this place is cursed_ , no?”

 

The man blinks, confusion creasing his brow. “People don’t usually believe in curses,” he says after a moment.

 

Eggsy rolls his eyes. “It’s still a better argument than _turn back_. At least it _is_ an argument. And Lance and I have been in this business too long _not_ to believe in curses.”

 

“Too long?” The man quirks an eyebrow, the corners of his lips twitching up in the threat of a smile.

 

“Yes, yes, I’m so very young. Can we discuss this after we find my friend?”

 

The man’s gaze flicks to the sand, then back to Eggsy’s. “Galahad is with her.”

 

Eggsy blinks. “Galahad?”

 

“My...friend.”

 

“His name is _Galahad_?”

 

“Her name is Lancelot?”

 

Touché.

 

Eggsy blows out a breath. “My name’s Eggsy,” he says. “Figure we should at least introduce ourselves if we’re going to work together, however briefly.”

 

The man is quiet for a moment, then he nods and holds out a hand. Eggsy takes it, the grip strong and sure. “I’m Merlin. Galahad and I help protect this place, keep the curse contained.”

 

“Why?”

 

Merlin lowers his hand and looks around them, the crumbling buildings, the stretching sand. He brings his gaze back to Eggsy. “You feel it,” he says and Eggsy has to flick his eyes away. “What’s buried here. It _has_ to stay buried.”

 

Eggsy swallows hard and gives a sharp nod. “Right,” he says, raising his gaze to meet Merlin’s again. “Then let’s find Lancelot and Galahad and leave this place alone.”

 

**

 

Roxy groans, pushing herself up. It’s dark and cool, a stark contrast to the world above. She sits still for a moment, blinking, willing her eyes to adjust to the dark, when a flare of light from the corner makes her wince and turn away. The man’s there, lighting a torch. He holds it up and it casts flickering light over the cavern they fell into, revealing a host of treasures and, back by the far wall, a sarcophagus.

 

Roxy stands, eyes flicking around the room, taking in all of the gold and precious gems surrounding them, calculating. If they could get this out, they could retire comfortably. And they could sell the sarcophagus itself to any number of private collectors eager for a piece of Egypt.

 

She steps forward.

 

“Leave it,” the man says, voice sounding much too loud in the small space.

 

Roxy glances over her shoulder at him. His spectacles glint in the flicker of the torchlight, his gaze fixed not on her but on the sarcophagus. As if any moment now it’s going to open, the cover sliding away to reveal some horror that has been waiting for them.

 

Roxy rolls her eyes. “Stop being superstitious,” she says. She marches forward and runs her hands over the sarcophagus, translating the hieroglyphics etched into its surface.

 

“Leave it,” the man says again.

 

She glances back to find he hasn’t moved, stands frozen in place. It rattles her and she pulls back. Her palm catches on a sharp edge and she cries out, quickly pressing part of her shirt to the cut. A grating sound comes from the sarcophagus and Roxy stumbles away from it, staring in horror as the smallest drop of her blood spreads through the hieroglyphics, filling the cartouche in the center of the lid.

 

“No.” The man’s voice is hushed, barely a whisper, but to Roxy it’s louder than anything else. Louder than the scrape as the sarcophagus’s lid begins to open. Louder than the the thud of it hitting the floor. Louder than the strange hiss rising from inside.

 

Louder than her scream as a mummified hand grips the side of the sarcophagus and the dead man within pulls himself up, empty gaze fixed on them.

 

**

 

“Did you hear that?” Eggsy asks. He whirls around as though Roxy is just going to appear. He hasn’t heard her scream in years and never has she sounded so terrified. But he can’t figure out where it came from and he’s frantic. A hand falls on his shoulder, Merlin pulling him to a stop. They stand still for a moment, bodies almost touching. Eggsy almost thinks Merlin’s going to wrap him in a hug to calm him down, but the man’s hand falls away and he meets Eggsy’s gaze before pointing down.

 

The scream came from below them.

 

“How do we get down there?” Eggsy asks.

 

“ _You_ don’t,” Merlin says. “You’re getting out of the city. I’ll rally the rest of the Magi and we’ll take care of this.” He glares at Eggsy, his expression tight. “You’ve done enough.”

 

Eggsy grabs his arm before he can even think of pulling away and steps up into his space, holding his gaze. “I’m not going anywhere without Roxy,” he says. “It’s my fault she’s here. I have to get her out.”

 

Merlin wrenches his wrist from Eggsy’s grip. “You’ll only be in the way.”

 

“I’m not what you think.” Eggsy’s shaking. He only noticed it when Merlin pulled away and he clenches his hands at his sides, struggling to keep himself under control. “I’m not just some clueless grave robber, I can _help_.”

 

Merlin stands still and silent for a moment, then brings his hands up to Eggsy’s shoulders and pushes him away. Eggsy stumbles back, eyes stinging with tears he won’t let fall. “Leave,” Merlin says. “You’ll just be in the way.” And he turns, walking purposefully away and leaving Eggsy standing in a silent rage, fear and worry and anger hot in his chest.

 

Eggsy pulls in a deep breath and lets it out in a scream.

 

**

 

“What do we do?” Roxy asks. They’re back across the cavern, close to where they fell in. The mummy hasn’t moved, is just sitting up in its sarcophagus staring out at them. If it can see. Which at this point wouldn’t surprise Roxy in the least.

 

“Oh, now you want to listen to me?”

 

“Please. I’m sorry but _please_.”

 

The man sighs. “We have to find a way to kill him.”

 

Roxy stares at him. “In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s already dead.”

 

“On the contrary, he is _un_ dead. Quite a bit of difference there.”

 

“ _How_?”

 

“Magi blood, I expect.”

 

“Magi?”

 

The man sighs again. “I’m not sure if I have time to properly explain, but I’ll give it a go. Keep an eye on him though,” he nods at the mummy, “while I try to find a way out of this room.” He starts moving along the wall, speaking softly as he goes. Roxy keeps her gaze on the mummy, trying to listen with an open mind.

 

“Merlin and I, we’re sort of. Adopted Magi. The group that protects Hamunaptra. We came here for a battle and we knew something here was...thirsty, I suppose. Thirsty for blood and death and we knew it needed to stay hidden. We met the Magi, their leader Ardeth explained what it was. The curse on this fellow, what would happen when he woke, and he gave us an option: have our memories of Hamunaptra erased and go on with our lives or remain and help protect this place. We decided to remain. Ah! I think I found it.”

 

Roxy glances over at the sound of a click. A part of the wall has slid away, revealing a dark passageway. She looks back at the mummy and has to stifle a cry: it’s moved, climbed out of the sarcophagus. The moment her eyes fix on it, though, it freezes again. “Um. Sir?”

 

“You can call me Galahad.”

 

“Well. Galahad. It’s moving.”

 

She hears the shift of fabric as Galahad turns and he lets out a little hum. “Right,” he mutters. “Come here, slowly, don’t look away from it.” She sidles along the wall, struggling against the urge to blink.

 

“So if my blood woke it, you think I’m one of these...Magi?”

 

She reaches Galahad’s side and he urges her into the tunnel, then ducks in after her. There’s a scrape as the wall closes back up and they walk, hunched and crowded, into the unknown. Galahad’s voice from behind keeping her grounded.

 

“There’s a group of people like myself and Merlin, people who aren’t native to the area who found Hamunaptra and joined the cause to keep it asleep. They pass the mantle down to their children, marking them with an extra name. One pulled from legend. Like Merlin or Galahad, though we picked those ourselves, or-”

 

“Or _Lancelot_ ,” Roxy finishes for him, her whole body going cold. She never knew her parents, just knew the names they’d given her and never gave it much thought. “But, I’m not Magi,” she whispers, trying to hold on to some last shred of normalcy.

 

“Your parents were, by choice if not by birth, and they passed it on to you. I don’t understand it all myself, and if we make it out of this Ardeth can explain all of this better than I can. But you were Magi enough for that sarcophagus.”

 

“Great,” Roxy mutters.

 

Quiet falls then, only their movement making sounds now as they make their way down the passage. Roxy’s starting to think it will never end when the wall slides open before her and Eggsy’s wide eyes meet her gaze.

 

“Thank God!” he says, reaching for her and pulling her into another cavernous room, enveloping her in a hug, his arms tight around her. Behind him, Merlin stands, arms crossed over his chest, glare fixed on Eggsy.

 

“You’ve made a friend,” she whispers and Eggsy lets out a teary laugh.

 

“So’ve you,” he says.

 

“Can we continue being mushy later?” Merlin asks, voice a low growl. “We have rather more pressing concerns.”

 

The ground shakes.

 

**

 

_meanwhile_

 

Eggsy is good at tailing people in a crowded city, full of people and buildings. He is not good at tailing someone in a crumbling ruin with no people and half-buildings. He knows this because Merlin has turned to tell him to go away five times now. Every time, Eggsy lets Merlin get a little ways ahead, then starts after him again.

  
Because he isn’t leaving, not without Roxy. And Merlin’s his best bet for finding her.

 

Even if Merlin doesn’t want him there.

 

“Will you just go?” Merlin asks, stopping abruptly and turning to face Eggsy again. Eggsy comes up short, crosses his arms over his chest, and waits. They stand like that for ages, it feels like, glaring one another down. Each waiting for the other to break.

 

They might have stood like that forever, but Eggsy’s canteen slips from its place, sending water spilling over the sand.

 

Except it isn’t water, not anymore.

  
Bright red blood runs out of the canteen, staining the pale ground almost black.

 

Eggsy stares in horror. “What the hell?” he asks, voice hushed.

 

“He’s awake,” Merlin says, but he isn’t talking to Eggsy, not really. He starts off again, racing in the direction he’s been going the whole time, and Eggsy runs after him, leaving his canteen behind in its pool of blood.

 

**

 

“Through here.” Merlin seems to have resigned himself to Eggsy’s presence. He’s led them around to a hollowed out half-building, pushing aside a slab of rock to reveal a set of steps leading down into the dark. He lights a torch and then leads Eggsy into the Earth.

 

It’s foolish, Eggsy knows, to follow this man who’s done nothing but issue vague threats about what would happen should they stay in the city, but Merlin clearly knows where he’s going and Eggsy needs to find Roxy, whatever the risk.

 

Eggsy hasn’t had a lot of friends in his life and he’s not about to abandon the one he’s had the longest.

 

They walk in silence through the near-darkness and Eggsy hates it. He wants to ask where they’re going, what they’re going to do, how they’re going to stop this, but he bites his tongue to keep the words in. Knows Merlin won’t appreciate the questions, that they’ll only make the other man angry.

 

So Eggsy follows silently through the darkness, heart pounding with fear.

 

**

 

They stop in a room that shouldn’t be nearly as big as it is. The ceiling seems forever away, lost above them in the darkness. The place is filled with jewels and gold, a collection the likes of which Eggsy has not seen in all his years of tomb raiding and grave robbing. He has to fight to keep his jaw from dropping in awe.

 

Eggsy’s so busy staring around him, taking everything in, that he isn’t paying attention to Merlin until the man speaks. “Come here and hold this,” he says. Eggsy looks over and finds Merlin running his free hand over the pitted surface of the rock wall. Eggsy hurries over and takes the torch, stepping back and watching carefully as Merlin finds just the right part of the wall and presses against it.

 

The wall slides aside and Eggsy’s eyes widen at the site of Roxy, dusty and pale but alive. He shoves the torch back at Merlin and the moment he feels it leave his grip, he grabs Roxy and hugs her before either of them can say anything, holding on tight as if afraid she’ll disappear the moment he lets go.

 

“You’ve made a friend,” Roxy whispers and Eggsy lets out a teary laugh.

 

“So’ve you,” he says.

 

“Can we continue being mushy later?” Merlin asks, voice a low growl. “We have rather more pressing concerns.”

 

**

 

 _The story_ , Merlin says as they sit amidst the memories of a bygone age, torchlight flickering on the walls, _goes like this._

 

_The priest Imhotep was the most trusted of Ramses and believed to be a chosen of the gods. But Imhotep had a secret: he and the Pharoh’s first wife, Anck Su Namun, were in love, secretly carrying on an affair. They were caught and Ankh Su Namun took her own life while Imhotep was imprisoned._

 

_His priests freed him and they stole Anck Su Namun’s body, riding through the night to the city of the dead: Hamunaptra. Imhotep planned to bring Ankh Su Namun back from the dead. But the Pharoh’s guard, the Magi, road out after them. They arrived in time to stop the ritual, to ensure Anck Su Namun’s soul remained in the land of the dead, and Imhotep’s fate was sealed: he would be cursed. Mummified alive and left to rot in torment._

 

_But the curse came with a price. Should Imhotep awaken, he would bring with him the plagues of Egypt and rain destruction down upon the Earth, immune to all mortal weapons and strong enough to bring the end of all things. So the Magi locked him in a sarcophagus that could only be opened by one of their blood, knowing that none of their lineage would ever dare raise the creature._

 

Merlin flicks his gaze to Roxy, who keeps her chin up and her own eyes fixed on him, not in the least cowed.

 

 _At least_ , Merlin finishes after a stretch of silence, _that’s what Ardeth told me._

 

**

 

There’s no way to tell how much time has passed. They sit in the dark, quiet stretching between them, Merlin’s story and what Roxy and Galahad have seen echoing through Eggsy’s mind. He wishes he didn’t believe it, but it all fits together too well.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says suddenly, voice loud in the quiet. They all look at him. “I never should have taken this job,” he explains. “It’s all my fault.”

 

“When this is done,” Merlin says, “you must tell us who hired you. Whoever it was, they must have known what they were truly sending you after.”

 

Eggsy swallows hard, meets Merlin’s gaze, and gives a quick nod.

 

He’s not sure, but he thinks he sees a smile cross over Merlin’s lips before his typical serious expression returns.

 

“Right,” he says, standing. “We have to stop the creature before it’s too strong. Galahad, ideas?”

 

Galahad stands as well, brushing dirt from his clothes, and Eggsy and Roxy scramble up, too.

 

“I say we lay a trap for him and then send him back to the land of the dead,” Galahad says. He sounds almost upbeat, as if this will be the easiest task in the world.

 

Eggsy stares at him. “How? He’s immortal.”

 

“We just have to make him mortal.”

 

Eggsy blinks, trying to parse Galahad’s words. He looks to Merlin, who watches him with one eyebrow raised as if to say _you have this_. And after a moment, he does. “You mean magic,” he says in a hushed tone, and Galahad grins and nods.

 

“Right, then.” Roxy claps her hands together, the sound echoing through the chamber. “What do we do?” Eggsy wants to reach out and take her hand, assure her that this isn’t her fault, she couldn’t have known. But he knows she’ll brush him away, and even if she _didn’t_ she’ll still want to set this right. She’ll still blame herself.

 

Even though it’s Eggsy’s fault.

 

One last job… he should have said no.

 

**

 

Galahad’s job is to find the spell, Merlin’s job is to properly kill the creature, which leaves Eggsy and Roxy to be bait.

 

“It’ll already have a taste for you,” Merlin says to Roxy before they split off to their respective tasks.

 

It isn’t a comforting thought.

 

**

 

With Roxy deciphering the hieroglyphics on the walls, she and Eggsy make their way down winding passages deeper into the heart of the tomb. Roxy looks pale in the dim light, but her expression is set and determined, so Eggsy doesn’t ask, much as he wants to. Instead, he does his best to focus on the task at hand, but without thinking about the dangers ahead.

 

They’re heading for the room nearest the mummy’s hidden resting place, hoping it will scent them - mainly Roxy - and come for them. Meanwhile, Merlin and Galahad will flank the room and swoop in with their deus ex machina before the creature can kill either Eggsy or Roxy.

 

Hopefully.

 

As plans go, it relies entirely too much on luck for Eggsy’s liking. Galahad will have to find the right invocation to make the creature mortal, Merlin will have to time his attack right so he doesn’t deliver the killing blow before Galahad’s finished, but he also can’t wait too long after or the creature will realize what’s going on.

 

Eggsy and Roxy’s lives depend on a lot of careful timing on the part of men they barely know. Competent though they’ve proven so far, Eggsy’s still uncertain. There’s nothing stopping them from leaving him and Roxy to their fate, comeuppance for not heeding the warnings they were given.

 

He knows, logically, that that isn’t going to happen. Not on purpose. The goal is to stop the mummy before he gets out, not to teach trespassers a lesson.

 

The mummy is lesson enough.

 

“Roxy,” Eggsy says when the silence gets to be too much. She doesn’t answer, doesn’t even look at him, but he presses on. “I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s my fault. I should’ve listened.”

 

Eggsy shakes his head, though Roxy isn’t looking at him, disputing her assertion. “Nah, mate, I’m the one who took the job. I should’ve left well enough alone.”

 

Roxy stops, stands still, shoulders hunched.

 

Eggsy pulls in a breath and adds, “I brought us here.”

 

He thinks Roxy is going to say something else, fight him on this, but then the ground shakes and there’s an inhuman roar and they surge forward, out of the passageway and into another looming cavern.

 

The mummy is there, waiting for them.

 

He’s more intact than what Roxy described and Eggsy figures that’s probably a bad thing, it likely means he’s gaining strength. Eggsy doesn’t know for certain that there’s a threshold where their plan will stop working, mostly because he was too afraid to ask, but he wouldn’t be surprised. He and Roxy stand side by side just inside the doorway and he hopes they can finish this quickly.

 

**

 

“Have you got it?” Merlin asks for the thousandth time, or something like it.

 

Galahad shoots him a glare before returning to the tome in his lap, searching for the incantation that will give them a chance to kill their foe. “I could work faster if you would stop interrupting,” he quips, turning a page.

 

“We don’t have a lot of time.”

 

Galahad doesn’t dignify that with a response. He knows they don’t have a lot of time, it’s why he’s scanning faster than he’d like over the pages, hoping his eyes don’t skip over the right word.

 

Then. There. Is that?

 

“Ha!” he shouts, standing and holding the book up closer to his face just as the tunnel they’re in trembles and a roar sounds through the tomb.

 

“Hurry,” Merlin whispers, urging Galahad along the path.

 

They find the tunnel entrance to the cavern where Roxy and Eggsy are confronting the mummy, pushing aside the hidden panel as quietly as they can. Through the opening, Galahad sees Imhotep advancing on the pair.

 

“Now, Galahad,” Merlin whispers, hefting his khopesh and inching into the room.

 

Galahad pulls in a breath and, squinting down at the page before him, recites the words as loudly and clearly as he can.

 

Imhotep freezes, begins to turn even as Merlin rushes forward with a shout.

 

Imhotep raises one arm, already shouting out a command of his own as Merlin reaches him, plunging the khopesh through his chest and sending him staggering back. The mummy disintegrates before their eyes, body turning to sand and blowing away on an impossible breeze.

 

And the tomb begins to shake.

 

“We have to get out of here!” Galahad shouts, rushing across the room towards Eggsy and Roxy. Merlin joins them, quickly taking the lead through the twisting tunnels, trying to reach the surface before the city of Hamunaptra comes down on top of them.

 

They emerge blinking into the sun, squinting against the brightness. Beneath their feet, the ground trembles and around them what’s left of the buildings topple to the ground. As the city collapses around them, they race through the sand out past the city walls and run into a tall man in black, his long dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. He’s dressed similar to how Merlin and Galahad are, but his hair and complexion are darker and when he speaks his English is accented.

 

“I take it,” he says, eyes fixed on the collapsing city, “that the creature is gone?”

 

**

 

Ardeth sighs, wrapping an arm loosely around Galahad’s waist and looking at him with fond exasperation. “I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” he asks.

 

Galahad grins back. “Suppose not. But it turned out alright in the end.”

 

Ardeth gives a soft hum, not quite agreement, not quite dispute, and looks over at Eggsy and Roxy, sat in the sand, staring at the empty place where Hamunaptra once stood. They’re talking, whatever they’re saying lost on the wind, and after a few moments Eggsy rises on his own, stepping away from Roxy towards Merlin, who stands a few paces away from Ardeth and Galahad, arms crossed over his chest, that ever present scowl fixed on his face.

 

“I want to become a Magi,” he says, looking from Merlin to Ardeth and back, eyes wide. “I want to protect the world from...things like this.” He raises his hands, gesturing behind him at Hamunaptra.

 

Ardeth gives Galahad a squeeze, then steps forward, standing next to Merlin and looking down at Eggsy. “Are you certain?” he asks. “This is not an easy life.”

 

Eggsy’s eyes flick to Merlin again and Ardeth has to bite back a smile. “I’m certain,” the younger man says with a sharp nod. “Absolutely.”

 

“And your friend?”

 

Eggsy looks over his shoulder at Roxy and blows out a breath. “She’s blaming herself,” he says in an undertone, as though Roxy won’t know he’s talking about her if she can’t hear his words. “But I’m the one who took the job. She didn’t know." He turns back, eyes wide as he meets Ardeth’s gaze. “She couldn’t have known, she never knew her parents.” He stops then, cutting off the words even as they spill out, horror evident in his expression. He’s said too much that wasn’t his to say.

 

Roxy doesn’t move.

 

“Lancelot,” Ardeth says, voice carried on the wind. Roxy looks up at him, eyes squinted against the setting sun. “Come, stand with your partner.”

 

Reluctantly, slowly, Roxy rises and crosses the short distance to stand beside Eggsy. She glances at him, then looks back to Ardeth. She looks exhausted, like it’s been weeks rather than just a few days.

 

“Lancelot, you were given a legacy but never told what it was. You were never taught the secrets of your name and what it signifies. The traditions of the Magi are older than the society that birthed you and will continue long after you are gone.” Ardeth reaches out a hand and lays it lightly on Roxy’s shoulder, dipping his head to meet her lowered gaze. “And if you wish, you may be a part of that tradition. You can choose to embrace the destiny your parents tried to give you. Or you can walk away. Whatever you choose, you will not be judged or found wanting. It is not an easy life and few who aren’t raised to it take to it.”

 

The five of them stand silently for a few moments, four sets of eyes fixed on Roxy as she stands, statue still, and thinks.

 

She glances at Eggsy who forces an encouraging smile, though he looks sick, then she looks back to Ardeth. “If I can work with Eggsy,” she says, “then I’d like to stay.”

 

Ardeth smiles. “Welcome, Lancelot and,” he looks at Eggsy and raises a brow.

 

“Percival,” Eggsy supplies.

 

Ardeth nods. “Welcome, Lancelot and Percival, to the Magi.”


End file.
